just to make myself feel better, please humor me while i make a list of things accomplished for today (please note i was not at ‘work’ most of the day… just an hour in the morning)

1) worked on a report an hour this morning
2) went to hardware store, then called furniture stores, then finally went to furniture repair shop to get replacement part for wooden bed rail
3) took antique wash stand in for repair, too
4) painted bed frame (having primed it yesterday)
5) added 2nd coat of paint to bed frame to reduce streaky-ness
6) washed dishes
7) received passive-aggressive message from younger sibling… later received equally passive-aggressive with-limited-understanding response from older sibling (“reply all” feature on email is very effective)
8) talked with workman about a finish date… still don’t know if that’s a possibility to have work done before my guests arrive at the end of july.. which makes me sad.
9) finished gift for nephew (wooden frames & wooden letters, stained same color… put in fabric where photo usually goes… and glued wooden letters on top of glass – looks fantastic!)
10) wrapped new-baby-gift for brand new nephew, wrapped birthday present for niece turning four
11) took painted bedframe pieces back to garage…touched up a few more spots (decided on “barn red” paint… very snazzy)
12) put wrapping paper away
13) moved bookshelf from garage to basement; proceeded to fill with 4 crates of books (me likes stacking books vertically on shelves – with a bit of horizontal mixed in for good measure… increases shelf book capacity dramatically!)
14) sent thank you email for dinner last night
15) made plans to go to movies with a girlfriend tomorrow
16) spoke to parent on phone several times to touch base, see how things are going, and provide encouragement
17) put a ‘hold’ on postal mail while i’m out of town (just *love* that this can be accomplished online now… thank goodness for the web)
18) called a company about transitioning over to digital television…got questions answered (will order equipment when i get back from trip)

the date went well – nothing extraordinary… good conversation. but i think that’s it. however, it was nice to go out and practice being gracious… hopefully he left dinner thinking ‘that was nice’. i think the day after i fully accept & embrace singleness will be the day i meet someone very special.

in other news, family relations are very complicated. blood is thicker than water, but it can also be painful.

so it’s really hot outside, and i have absolutely zero interest in
1) raking old leaves from last fall which are more similar to mulch now than original brown leaves or
2) finishing the bed frame so i can paint it
which frustrates me because it’s currently 11:13 am, and i have just under 5 hours of productive work time before i need to shower and get ready for a friend’s birthday party. what’s a girl to do? i’d love to finish the bed… but that involves getting grimy and a trip to the hardware store. and raking old leaves is just gross.

a friend of mine has been called to serve in Afghanistan. i have mixed feelings. as i’m sure he and his family do too.

showed up to the wrong building to evaluate a student. i realized my mistake 15 minutes before the parent’s appointment… made a few phone calls… left a message… and got to the *correct* building about 15 minutes into the evaluation. things ended up being fine, but i felt a bit foolish – as i confirmed place/time, yet we still miscommunicated… i guess it can happen to the best of us! lol

tried saying hello yesterday, but computer wouldn’t cooperate. no worries. now i can say hi & share that my alarm is going off in the next room…which, let me assure you, is both loud and very annoying.